Self-resealable dispensing stopper for container for flowable material

ABSTRACT

A device for sealing a container intended to be connected to a recipient provided with a connector for supply of its contents to the recipient in such a way that the container can be applied to and removed from the recipient without leakage and is sealed after the removal. For this purpose an elastic body is included in the device, which contains a cavity with a thin bottom, which cavity is adapted to the connector and is inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of the body, so that the interior portion of the body is displaced radially time of application of the device to the connector and opens a channel between the body and the container wall for air supply to the container. The interior portion of the cavity is smaller than the exterior portion of the connector to enable the connector to open the sealing device by widening a normally closed hole or slit located at the bottom of the cavity.

Self-Resealable Dispensing Stoppers For Container For Flowable Maker

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a device for sealing container intended to beconnected to a recipient provided with connection means for the sealingdevice for supply of the contents of the container to the recipient, theconnection means of which recipient is also arranged to open the sealingdevice upon application of the container. The sealing device isparticularly useful for a liquid container which, when applied to arecipient, is to supply liquid to the recipient, for example an ink foran ink jet printer. However, this is only an example of several possibleapplications for the present device, which can be used everywhere, inprinciple, where it is desired to supply a more or less viscous orrunning material, inclusive of liquid, to a recipient via an appliedcontainer of some type without any considerable leakage arising when thecontainer is applied or removed from the recipient.

In ink jet printers which are provided with ink via an added inkcontainer closed by means of a slit rubber stopper, it is previouslyknown to use a spout of about 5 mm thickness as a connection means,which upon application of the closed ink container perforates its slitrubber spout and is connected in this way to the ink of the containerfor supply thereof to the printer. However, this known arrangement hasthe embarrassing disadvantage that leakage arises at each change of inkcontainer and especially in the cases when the container is not quiteempty and further disadvantage that a removed container is not sealed ina satisfactory way.

In order that liquid might stream out of such a container, air must haveaccess to the interior of the container, and, according to a knowntechnique, this is achieved by means of a narrow hose which is placed inand extends through the rubber spout located in the container. Thenarrow hose permits leakage of liquid at application of the container tothe printer, until the interior orifice of the hose comes over theliquid level within the container. When that interior orifice is notpositioned on the printer, the liquid in the container is in contactwith the air, which implies a certain loss of liquid through diffusion.

Another disadvantage of this known arrangement is that leakage may arisevia the air hose as soon as the whole printer is tilted or laid on itsside with the ink container in position, due to the fact that theinterior orifice of the air hose normally being over the liquid level,is brought below the same when the printer is considerably aired.Changes in pressure and temperature may result in great leakage in thisconnection.

Attempts have been made to eliminate the leakage via the stopper of theliquid container by replacing the spout of the ink jet printer by anarrow cannula which is made to perforate a rubber membrane arranged inthe container, and replacing the rubber stopper upon the application ofthe ink container to the printer in the same way as when handlinginjection solutions. However, these attempts have not been satisfactorybut have pointed at several practical problems and some disadvantages ofthe same type as those described above. Moreover, the problem remainswith the air supply, to make it possible for the ink to stream out ofthe container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a seal of acontainer of the kind mentioned above which, has not the above-mentioneddisadvantages, but is so constituted that it seals the containerhermetically in the non-applied position of the container and makespossible, in its applied position, supply of the contents of thecontainer to the recipient without leakage arising, and that it allowsapplication of the container to the recipient and removal from therecipient without leakage, and that is seals the container hermeticallyafter removal of the container from the recipient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in the following in greater detail withreference to the enclosed drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 shows a section of a sealing device according to the inventionarranged in a sealing container in a phase during the application of theliquid container onto a connection means of a recipient;

FIG. 2 shows a section taken along the line II--II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a section of the container in FIG. 1 in a position appliedto the recipient;

FIG. 4 is an longitudinal cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 1, of amodified embodiment wherein an air channel is provided in the body, and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to FIG. 3, of a modifiedembodiment wherein the interior end surface of the body is curvedconcavely.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the drawings, there is shown an example of an embodiment of theinventive sealing device positioned in a filling and emptying opening ofa liquid container, preferably formed as a throat and sealedhermetically by the sealing device in the position shown in FIG. 1. Thecontainer is designated by 1 and its opening by 2 and the sealing deviceby 3.

The sealing device consists of a homogeneous body or stopper 4 made ofan elastic, preferably highly elastic material which is resistant to theintended liquid or material. The sealing device preferably has anexternal opening and should be somewhat greater than the containeropening 2 with respect to its dimension, so that the stopper 4 must bepressed into position and consequently is made to fit tightly againstthe internal peripheral sidewall 5 of the opening.

Even if it need not always be the case, the stopper 4 according to theembodiment shown in the drawings is formed with or as a seat surface(i.e., a stop surface) 6 at its end located outside the containeropening 2 for cooperation with a corresponding seat surface 7 of arecipient (8 not shown more in detail on the drawings), for fixing thecontainer correct position on the recipient and. The connection means 9has the form of a spout open at the end. The longitudinal axis A of theconnection means forms preferably but not necessarily a right angle tothe seat surfaces 7 of the recipient.

For cooperation with the connection means 9 of the recipient, thesealing device 3 is formed with a cavity 10 extending from the seatsurface 6 and terminating at such a distance from the end surface 11 ofthe sealing device facing the interior of the container that arelatively thin wall or diaphragm 12 constituting the bottom of thecavity remains. A very narrow slit 13 (FIG. 3) is made in this wall 12,for example, by the aid of a thin razor blade or the like, or a verysmall hole is made therein, for example by the aid of a narrowsewing-needle of the like. The slit 13 or hole is located at the centreof the cavity and is kept closed by the material, due to its elasticproperties and, to a certain extent, by the curved form of the cavitybottom or the wall 12. In case of a slit, it is suitable to havetransversal reinforcing wires inserted in the material at the ends ofthe slit to prevent the slit from extending and, consequently, thematerial from cracking.

The cavituy 10 has a length or depth which must not be less than, andshould be equal to, the length or height of the connection means 9 ofthe recipient, at least in the embodiment with seat surfaces shown inthe drawings. In embodiments without seat surfaces, the cavity 10 of thepresent connection means 3 can have a depth that is less, and alsosubstantially less, than the length of the connection means 9 of therecipient. Furthermore, the cavity 10 of the sealing device should havea form conforming or closely agreeing with the exterior form of theconnection means 9 of the recipient. This agreement of form should be atleast be present between the tip or exterior part of the connectionmeans and the interior part of the cavity which, however, should besomewhat smaller in dimensional respect than the tip of the connectionmeans. In the embodiment shown, the whole cavity, like the wholeconnection means 9, has the form of a more or less truncated cone but ofcourse it can have another form suitable for the purpuse, for example,the form of a more or less truncated pyramid or wedge, or a sphericalzone. At agreeement of form only between the interior part of the cavityand the tip of the connection means the remaining part of the cavity 10and the connection, means 9 may have any other form, permittingapplication of the sealing device in the intended way to the connectionmeans 9 of a recipient.

Another essential characteristics feature of the device of thisinvention is the orientation of the cavity in the body 4. Morespecifically, the cavity 10 is so located that its longitudinal axis Bnormally is inclined relative to the longitudinal axis C of the body 4.The angle of inclination between these is acute, the longitudinal axis Bof the cavity possibly intersecting the longitudinal axis C of the bodyin the end surface 6 of the body, as shown on the drawings, or in spacedrelationship, inwards or outward, from the end surface 6. In otherwords, the cross-section of the cavity in the end surface 6 need nothave its centre in the longitudinal axis C of the body, but may bedisplaced relative to the same.

As a result of the extension and inclination of this cavity, alsorelative to the longitudinal axis A of the connection means, atapplication of a container provided with the inventive sealing deviceonto the connection means 9 of a recipient, the interior portion of thebody is displaced radially by the connection means 9 of the recipient,and the cavity 10 is aligned and brought into a position concentric withthe connection means 9. This is due to the fact that the body iscompressed on one side and straightened on the other side of theconnection means 9 so that it is drawn from the wall of the containeropening and opens a channel 14 (FIG. 3) between the inside 5 of thecontainer wall and the body 4. It is realized from this that the degreeof inclination of the cavity must be adapted, to a large extent, to thecompressibilty of the material from which the body 4 is made, and to thedimensions of the body, so that said channel 14 is always obtained.

In order to make the alignment of the cavity 10 easier, the body 4 canbe provided with one or more curved stops 15 located about the cavity10, as is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2.

At its interior peripheral section, the sealing device of the invention,further, has a sealing flange 16 running all around and a groove 17,located inside this flange 16 and also running all around, which isconnected with the atmosphere through an air hole 18 arranged in thecontainer. Thus, in this way, access of air to the interior of thecontainer is prevented as long as the container is not applied inposition on a recipient, and, in this way, loss of liquid is alsoavoided by diffusion during storage.

In order to prevent contamination of the liquid in the container withparticles and microorganisms that may accompany incoming air, it issuitable for liquids sensitive to such a contamination to provide theair hole 18 with a hydrophobic filter 19 through which air streaming in,thus, must pass and be cleaned. In this way, such a contamination of theliquid in the container is prevented.

In the position shown in FIG. 1, the present sealing device seals thecontainer hermetically, and at application of the container onto theconnection means 9 of a recipient to be provided with liquid, theinterior part of the sealing device is thus displaced radially by theconnection means 9 of the recipient, the channel 14 being opened, andconsequently the interior of the container is connected to the air hole18 and the atmosphere. In its interior part, the cavity 10 is narrowerthan the tip of the connection means and, as a result of this, when thesealing device is pressed into position on the connection means 9, anextension of the slit 13 or the hole at the bottom of the cavity alsooccurs besides said radial movement. Through this opening in the wall 12created by the connection means 9, liquid can now pass via theconnections means to the recipient simultaneously as an equivalentamount of air streams into the container via the air hole 18 and thechannels 17 and 14. Thus, it is avoided, in this way, that a negativepressure will be created in the container.

When the container has thereafter been removed from the recipient, thesealing device will return to its original form, meaning that the slitor hole 13 is closed and that the air passage 14 is shut as the sealingflange 16 is brought into a sealing contact with the inside 5. Thecontainer is again heremetically sealed by the sealing device, andleakage will arise in the very short time necessary for removing thecontainer from the recipient and its connection means 9.

The inventions is not restricted to what has been described above andshown in the drawings, but can be amended and modified in severalvarious ways within the scope of the invention defined in the claims.Thus, it is possible to form the interior end surface 11 of the body sothat it is concavely and curved (as shown at 11' in FIG. 5), instead ofconvex and, furthermore, the groove or channel 17 can be connected tothe atmosphere or another air source, optionally under pressure, via achannel made in the body 4, as shown at 100 in FIG. 4. The showing ofthe channel 100 is exemplary; neither the orientation or shape of thechannel forms part of the present invention.

I claim:
 1. A self-resealable dispensing stopper for a container whichcontains flowable material, adapted to be sealingly received against aninner peripheral wall in an opening of a container which containsflowable material, to open so as to dispense flowable material from thecontainer into a recipient when telescopically seated on an open outerended tubular inlet connector member of the recipient, which connectormember is elongated along a longitudinal axis, and to self-sealinglyclose when withdrawn from seated relation to said connector member, saidstopper comprising:a body of elastic material having an outer peripheralsurface arranged to circumferentially sealingly engage said innerperipheral wall in said opening in said container, so as to have, withregard to said container, an inner end wall facing towards the containerand an outer end wall arranged to face towards the recipient; meansdefining a longitudinally elongated cavity in said body; said cavityhaving an entrance opening through said outer end wall and having an endwall disposed outwardly of but adjacent said inner end wall of saidbody, so as to define between said end wall of said cavity and saidinner end wall of said body a diaphragm of elastic material; meansdefining a self-resealing opening through said diaphragm, which isarranged to be opened when the diaphragm is elastically distendedinwardly towards the container and to self-reseal when such distensionis relaxed; means defining a radially outwardly opening groove in saidouter peripheral surface of said body at an axially intermediatelocation which is spaced from both said inner and outer end walls ofsaid body, thereby providing between said groove and said inner end walla circumferentially extending sealing surface portion of said outerperipheral surface; said longitudinally elongated cavity being inclinedso as to be centered on a cavity longitudinal axis which, when thecontainer having the stopper mounted in the opening thereof is advancedtowards the connector member along the longitudinal axis of theconnector member with the entrance to the cavity centered on thelongitudinal axis of the connector member, diverges from thelongitudinal axis of the connector member, whereby, as connector memberis telescopically received into the cavity until the outer end of theconnector member sealingly engages with the end wall of the cavityperimetrically around said self-resealing opening to an open conditionfor communicating the flowable material in the container with therecipient through the connector member along a resulting flow path, theconnector member laterally elastically distorts said body, causing thelongitudinal axis of said cavity to coincide with the longitudinal axisof the connector member, and thereby elastically pulling said sealingsurface portion of said outer peripheral surface of said body away froma portion of the inner peripheral wall of said opening in the container,sufficient to communicate said groove passed said sealing surfaceportion, so that, by also venting the groove to atmosphere, atmospheremay be communicated to the container for facilitating displacement offlowable material from the container into the recipient through saidconnector member.
 2. The stopper of claim 1, wherein:said groove isdisposed closer to said inner end wall of said body than to said outerend wall of said body.
 3. The stopper of claim 2, furtherincluding:means defining an opening through said body from externallythereof, to said groove, for communicating atmosphere with said groove.4. The stopper of claim 1, wherein:said inner end wall of said body isconvexly curved.
 5. The stopper of claim 1, further including:at leastone further cavity, arcuate in transverse cross-section, formed in saidbody through said outer end wall so as to be radially spaced from bothsaid longitudinally elongated cavity and said outer peripheral surfaceof said body, said at least one further cavity being disposed forfacilitating elastic distortion of said longitudinally elongated cavityis telescoped onto said connector member.
 6. The stopper of claim 1,further including:stop surface means formed on said outer end wall ofsaid body and arranged to engage with the recipient for limiting advanceof the stopper along said longitudinal axis of said connector member. 7.A self-resealably stoppered container for dispensing a flowable materialcontained in the container, comprising:a container for a flowablematerial, said container having an opening having an inner peripheralwall; and a self-resealable dispensing stopper sealingly receivedagainst said inner peripheral wall in said opening of said container, toopen so as to dispense flowable material from the container into arecipient when the telescopically seated on an open outer ended tubularinlet connector member of the recipient, which connector member iselongated along a longitudinal axis, and to self-sealingly close whenwithdrawn from seated relation to said connector member, said stoppercomprising: a body of elastic material having an outer peripheralsurface arranged to circumferentially sealingly enagage said innerperipheral wall in said opening in said container, so as to have, withregard to said container, an inner end wall facing towards the containerand an outer end wall arranged to face towards the recipient; meansdefining a longitudinal elongated cavity in said body; said cavityhaving an entrance opening through said outer end wall and having an endwall disposed outwardly of but adjacent said inner end wall of saidbody, so as to define between said end wall of said cavity and saidinner end wall of said body a diaphragm of elastic material; meansdefining a self-resealing opening through said diaphragm, which isarranged to be opened when the diagragm is elastically distendedinwardly towards the container and to self-reseal when such distensionis relaxed; means defined a radially outwardly opening groove in saidouter peripheral surface of said body at an axially intermediatelocation which is spaced from both said inner and outer end walls of thebody, thereby providing between said groove and said inner end wall acircumferentially extending sealing surface portion of said outerperipheral surface; said longitudinally elongated cavity being so as tobe centered on a cavity longitudinal axis which, when the containerhaving the stopper mounted in the opening thereof is advanced towardsthe connector member along the longitudinal axis of the connector memberwith the entrance to the cavity centered on the longitudinal axis of theconnector member, diverges from the longitudinal axis of the connectormember, wherein, as connector member is telescopically received into thecavity until the outer end of the connector member sealingly engageswith the end wall of the cavity perimetrically around saidself-resealingly opening and elastically distends said self-resealingopening to an open condition for communicating the flowable material inthe container with the recipient through the connector member along aresulting flow path, the connector member laterally elastically distortssaid body, causing the longitudinaly axis of said cavity to coincidewith the longitudinal axis of the connector member, and therebyelastically pulling said sealing surface portion of said outerperipheral surface of said body away from a portion of said opening inthe container, sufficient to communicate said groove passed said sealingsurface portion, so that, by also venting the groove to atmosphere,atmosphere may be communicated to the container for facilitatingdisplacement of flowable material from the container into the recipientthrough said connector member.
 8. The self-sealingly stoppered containerof claim 7, wherein:said groove extends completely circumferentiallyaround said body.
 9. The self-sealingly stoppered container of claim 8,further including:said opening in said container being provided througha neck provided on said container; means defining an opening throughsaid neck communicating atmosphere externally of said container withsaid groove.
 10. The self-sealingly stoppered container of claim 9,further including:a hydrophobic filter member arranged across saidopening through said neck, for filtering atmospheric communication withflowable material in said container.